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June 3rd Three Judge panel of the NC Court of Appeals hears the oral arguments on Asheville v. North Carolina (read all documents here). A decision is expected sometime within two months.

NC Court of Appeals

Asheville's legal team

May 12thThe NC Court of Appeals calendar is out, and oral arguments in the case of "The City of Asheville vs. the State of North Carolina et al" will happen at 9:30 am on Wednesday June 3rd, at the NC Court of Appeals Building in Raleigh.

May 11th The State of North Carolina's final filing in the water lawsuit appeal was filed - it contains some harsh language (read it here). The State is criticizing Asheville's "continued reliance upon incompetent, irrelevant and inadmissible evidence allegedly attesting to the intentions of individual members of the General Assembly concerning the Act as of the time the General Assembly enacted it." Ooooo, snap.

May 7thThe NC League of Municipalities has filed an Amicus Brief supporting the City of Asheville. Read it here, and read all the other documents filed in the Court of Appeals here.

April 27th The City of Asheville's Appellee's Brief in the Appeals Court round of their lawsuit has just been posted online. Read it here. And a surprise filing - an 'Amicus Brief' from the City of Wilson NC, supporting the City of Asheville. Apparently, it's sinking in elsewhere that if they can do it to Asheville, they'll do it to you. That's essentially the reason given by the City of Wilson in the summary of their position. Read it here. The full Amicus Brief can be read here.The State has two weeks to respond, after which the Court will decide whether to hear oral arguments, which is expected.

Feb. 27 The State of North Carolina has submitted their Appellant's Brief. Read it here. Some sad news - Gary R. Govert, the Assistant Solicitor General preparing to argue the State's case before the Court of Appeals, has passed away. Special Deputy Attorney General I. Faison Hicks, who argued the case before the Superior Court, has taken it back over for the State.

Jan. 14 Lawsuit updateDue to the State requesting a two-month delay in submitting their "Appellant's Brief" in the case, it's unlikely that a panel to hear their appeal of Judge Manning's Summary Judgement in favor of the City of Asheville will be selected until April. It's likely that a ruling won't happen until late summer or fall. After some negotiating, the official trial record has been agreed to. Read it here.Check back here for updates, or the NC Appellate Court site for other documents.

Tryon NC update 2- 3 years ago, around the time that the attempt to seize Asheville's water system began, it was reported that a somewhat mysterious company based in Texas was trying to purchase the water system operated by Tryon NC (pop. 1683). Tryon, 45 miles south of Asheville, sits at the intersection of a network of pipelines that connect many of the major sources of fresh water that serve WNC communities. When Tryon balked at the idea of selling their water system, and started asking Ni America pointed questions, the offer was withdrawn. It was never clear why anyone would want to purchase this small town water system, plagued by high maintenance costs and limited revenues. Could this be why?

Dec. 1st, 2014 At the annual City of Asheville legislative delegation breakfast, Rep. Chuck McGrady tells City Council that if the Water Act (H488) is ultimately struck down, he and Henderson County State Sen. Tom Apodaca intend to file legislation to "correct whatever the mistake might be". (audio here)

He did not go into specifics, but given that the Water Act had been struck down in Superior Court principally because it only applies to Asheville, it's not clear what could "correct" that, other than making the State seizure of municipal water systems apply to some other NC city or town, as well as Asheville.

Nov. 4th, 2014 NC House Rep. Tim Moffitt is defeated by Democratic challenger Brian Turner, and Rep. Nathan Ramsey is defeated by John Ager. The only sponsor of H488 to keep his seat is Henderson County Rep. Chuck McGrady.

Aug. 29th The transcript of the final May 23rd hearing in the lawsuit before Judge Howard Manning has been released.Read it here.Sometimes humorous, very informative. A good read, if you want to understand the legal issues involved. And Judge Manning's June 9th ruling in favor of the City of Asheville is here.

July 8th The State has filed their "Notice of Appeal" in the Asheville water lawsuit ruling. Read it here.Barring any extraordinary developments (see the "stay the relief" entries below), the conventional timeline for an appeal of this sort is 12 - 18 months. Check back for updates.

July 2ndUpdate The "stay the relief" provision cited below, has appeared in another bill, HB189. It still has the potential to be enacted before the end of the NCGA short session.

July 1stThe NC Attorney General's office has yet to file an appeal in the Asheville water lawsuit. They have until July 9th....which could become significant, if this provision were to become law beforehand. Introduced anonymously to Senate Bill 744 (page 218) in the NC House Finance Committee, it could have the effect of "staying" the relief granted to the City of Asheville, ie: the prevention of the State seizure of its water system. "Staying" this relief would allow the State to implement the seizure and transfer of the water system to MSD despite having lost in the original trial court. The City of Asheville would then have to win on all appeals in order to (years after the consolidation was a fait accompli) attempt to claw the system back into municipal control.

“Injunction pending appeal of as-applied constitutional challenge. – Notwithstanding any other provision of law, where a trial court grants interlocutory, temporary, or permanent injunctive or declaratory relief restraining the State or a political subdivision of the State from enforcing the operation or execution of an act of the General Assembly as applied against a party in a civil action, the court shall stay the relief granted pending appeal. This subsection does not apply to facial challenges heard by a three-judge panel pursuant to G.S. 1-267.1.”

The provision disappeared from later versions of the bill, perhaps because it is an absurd overreach of the Legislative Branch over the Judiciary. Even if it re-appeared, passed the NCGA and was signed into law by the Governor, it's unclear if any NC court would actually enforce it.

But somebody floated it anyway. Why?

June 10th Wait a minute... what? In a WWNC interview the day after losing the lawsuit, Rep. Tim Moffitt states that if ultimately upheld, the law which attempts the forced regionalization of Asheville's water, could be applied "equally as involuntary" to other municipalities:

“The way we constructed the bill was the appropriate way. We constructed the bill as we felt was necessary to get it enacted into law, in order to put together a framework that provides for the regionalization of water and sewer utilities, not only in our area, but in other areas throughout the state. So it’s a framework that’s in place, involuntary when it comes to Asheville’s standpoint, but certainly can be voluntary throughout the rest of the state, or in certain situations, equally as involuntary.“

This will come as something of a shock to his fellow legislators, who took care to ensure that they weren't setting a precedent that could come back to seize their water systems.

June 12thThe State of North Carolina will appeal the ruling blocking the seizure of Asheville's water system, a DoJ spokesperson confirmed.There had been, and still is, the possibility that the NC General Assembly might choose to use new authority they granted themselves last year, to intervene in the case. Currently, however, the appeal will be led by NC's Attorney General, Roy Cooper. No dates have yet been announced.

June 10thThe day he lost the lawsuit, Rep. Moffitt stated that he is "somewhat amused" that NC Cities can sue the State Government at all.

June 10thRep. Moffitt has announced that he will abolish the newly-created Buncombe County Culture and Recreation Authority. It was originally envisioned to benefit both City and County, but the City was excluded from it by Rep. Moffitt, after they filed the lawsuit over the taking of their water system. He was later caught on tape admitting that he had done it specifically in retribution of that act. Now, the day after losing that lawsuit, he and Rep. Nathan Ramsey have decided to permanently prevent the City and County from collaborating on shared recreation facilities and cultural activities.Update: Wasting no time, Reps. Moffitt and Ramsey introduced and got passed in the NC Senate Finance Committee, a repeal of the law creating the CRA. Problem is, they told Senators preparing to vote on the repeal, "The Authority has not been created." Buncombe County seems pretty sure they "created" the Authority last August:

The next decision rests with NC Attorney General Roy Cooper. Will he appeal the ruling? Reps. Moffitt, McGrady, and Ramsey have made statements suggesting they expect him to. Rep. McGrady has gone further, suggesting that if Cooper decides not to appeal, the NCGA may intervene and fight the appeal without him. It's unclear if they actually have the authority to do so, or if the will exists in the General Assembly to further expend resources and political capital defending what is an unpopular new concept: The State owns all your public infrastructure, and can seize it and give it to whoever they want.

Cooper has thirty days to decide whether or not to appeal.

Attorneys for the City of Asheville

May 23rd: Final arguments were presented in the City of Asheville's lawsuit against the forced transfer of their water system. A ruling is expected anytime before June 23rd. Some random thoughts here, fuller description coming.

May 15th, a week before the final hearing on the Asheville water lawsuit, this headline appears in the Triangle Business Journal:

The cornerstone of the City's case is that the law is
unconstitutional, since it targets only one city's water system -
Asheville. Enter the shenanigans we dubbed "The Greenville Gambit".
Towards the end of the 2013 session of the NCGA, an amendment to the water seizure law started springing up in unrelated bills, presumably introduced by Rep. Tim Moffitt or his allies. Intended to remove one of the three criteria in the law that make it apply only to Ashevillle, it would have had the effect of making it apply to one other NC municipality: Greenville. The obvious intent of this was to undermine one aspect of Asheville's lawsuit.The City of Greenville and their reps in the House and Senate were not
pleased, and their opposition blocked the amendments. At the last
minute, though, they appeared to agree to a compromise. Senate Bill 341, the "Amend Interbasin Transfer Act"
had had the original amendment inserted anonymously in the House
Environment Committee. But then Rep. Brian Brown of Greenville
introduced a second amendment, when the bill reached the full House. The effect of the first was that it made the Asheville seizure law apply to
Greenville, but then under the new set of criteria introduced by Rep. Brown, made it not
apply to Greenville after all. We all scratched our heads, but given that the two
amendments together appeared to leave Greenville off the chopping block,
it passed easily and became law.

Now, seven months later, the next shoe drops:The State Motion made on Feb.
27th acts as if that second amendment does not exist, and
that Greenville will soon be forced to surrender their water system to a
forced regionalization, same as Asheville!"If Greenville's and Pitt County's populations continue to grow at this
rate, it is reasonably foreseeable that Section 1(a) of the Act will
apply to the Greenville water system in the near future."

No
one who has read this Motion can yet make sense of how the State
intends to convince Judge Manning that the second Greenville
amendment does not mean what everyone else believes it means. And no
public reaction as of yet from Greenville or her representatives in the
NCGA, but they cannot be pleased.

A hearing before Judge Manning in Wake County is expected sometime in April, and a ruling at the Superior Court level is expected in May. Stay tuned... March 17th Save the date! "What Next For Asheville's Water?" Mountain Voices Alliance, SaveOurWaterWNC, Clean Water for North Carolina, Asheville PARC and the WNC Alliance will co-sponsor an educational forum on the Asheville water issue, including an update on the status of the lawsuit and other issues affecting the future of water in our region.

Jan. 28th, 2014 Update on the lawsuit over the seizure of Asheville's Water System: The 120-day discovery period laid out in Judge Howard Manning's order of last October has ended. The date of the next hearing on the lawsuit depends on whether any of the parties (City of Asheville, State of NC, Buncombe County MSD) file any motions related to the case. Each would require a delay to allow the other parties to respond. The window for when the next hearing in Raleigh on the lawsuit could occur is early March to mid-April. It's expected that a Summary Judgment ruling at Judge Manning's Superior Court level would occur no later than mid-May. Whichever side prevails, appeals are likely. Further updates as they happen...

The Public Enterprise System & Use of Funds Study Committee is
charged with looking at the allowable uses of government-owned
corporation funds and then making recommendations to the General Assembly to ensure transparency,
proper funding and the improved management of public enterprises run by
local governments. Public enterprises are business organizations owned
by the state (such as airports, transportation systems and sewer or
water systems) that are controlled by a public authority.

"Essentially, we have a system today where the fox is guarding the
henhouse,” commented Rep. Moffitt. “Given the potential for the abuse
and misuse of such a system, it’s only prudent that we study this issue
and ensure best practices are in place to protect both the ratepayers
and the taxpayers."

Two issues of concern: The argument underlying the intent of this committee is pretty clear – all through the debate about the Asheville water system, we heard that the City is “stealing” revenue from the ratepayers every year, to support it’s general fund. The fact that the amount diverted from the ratepayer revenues goes to cover the City’scost of managing the water system never seemed to penetrate the talking point, even when GOP Rep. Chuck McGrady tried to stop the spreading of that (in his words) "very bad information". Continuing that argument on a statewide level suggests that there may emerge legislation intended to prevent municipalities from recovering the full costs of operating enterprise fund activities like water, sewer, transportation systems, etc., placing further economic strain on local governments, and theoretically making the option of privatizing public infrastructure more attractive.

The second, somewhat more worrying issue: "Public enterprises are business organizations owned
by the state". Are Rep. Moffitt and others in the GOP leadership preparing to assert that municipalities do not even own the public infrastructure they built and operate? This radical concept was introduced during the Asheville water debate. The argument goes, that since the system was funded almost exclusively through ratepayer revenue, the City could not claim to "own" it - it belongs to the "ratepayers". This concept has never been tested in court, but Rep. Moffitt appears to be asserting it as if it had, and that it applies statewide to any infrastructure operated by local governments as a "public enterprise."

Nov. 13th:NCDepartment of Environment and Natural Resources Deputy Director Mitch Gillespie tells the Environmental Review Commission, a joint NC House and Senate body, that there is a "possible basin" for natural gas shale deposits in Western North Carolina and that DENR is "going to go out there" and start exploring. This could represent major news on the fracking front - previously, all potential NC gas shale deposits were believed to be in the central/eastern part of the state. Water usage is a major component of the controversial nature of hydraulic fracturing, and the possibility of fracking coming to WNC puts the fight over Asheville's water system in a new light.

Oct. 9th:As expected, the Judge in the Asheville water lawsuit has persuaded the parties to dispense with the preliminaries and go straight to Summary Judgement. The rulings on motions from the State and the City will be dismissed, and instead we will have a final hearing (on the Superior Court level at least), sometime in Feb. or March.Read Judge Howard Manning’s “Stipulated Case Management Order” here.

"There will
be opposition," Blust said. "But water is going to be like gold - whoever has the water has the
control and the power, and I just don't want that to get in the wrong hands. I'd rather that be in
the elected body of the county rather than just one town."

Aug. 11Mountain XPress reports on Rep. Moffitt's comments that leaving Asheville out of the County-wide Culture and Recreation Authority was explicitly in retaliation for fighting back on the water issue.

August 5thRep. Tim Moffitt tells the Asheville Board of Realtors that he & the other legislators who crafted the Buncombe County Culture & Recreation Authority bill, kept the City of Asheville from joining the CRA explicitly because they filed a lawsuit over the seizure of their water system.This confirms earlier reports that this threat was levied against the City, but was denied at the time by these same legislators.

Update!! For the second time, attorneys for the State of North Carolina have asked for & received a delay in the start of the lawsuit over Asheville's water. The new date is September 6th, 2013. The Temporary Restraining Order still prevents the seizure of the water system and watershed owned by the City of Asheville.

August 5thMountain Moral Monday.Co-sponsored by SaveOurWaterWNC, western North Carolina joins the protests against radical legislation coming out of Raleigh, including the takeover of our water. NC NAACP President Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II will speak, along with a myriad of local and regional voices (including Barry of SaveOurWaterWNC). Aug. 5th, Pack Square in downtown Asheville, 5 - 6:30. Details here.

July 17thSenate Bill 341 did indeed appear on the House calendar today, and was amended by the delegation from Greenville. However, instead of removing the provision that threatened to draw them into the Asheville water dispute, they added a section to S.L. 2013-50 (the Asheville water seizure law):

"SECTION 1.(g) For purposes of this section, a public water system shall not include any system that is operated simultaneously with a sewer system by the same public body, in conjunction with the provision of other utility services for its customers."

“SECTION
1.(g) For purposes of this section, a public water system shall not
include any system that is operated simultaneously with a sewer system
by the same public body, in conjunction with the provision of other
utility services for its customers.” - See more at:
http://scrutinyhooligans.us/2013/07/15/they-finally-got-their-tax-deal/comment-page-1/#comment-100315

“SECTION
1.(g) For purposes of this section, a public water system shall not
include any system that is operated simultaneously with a sewer system
by the same public body, in conjunction with the provision of other
utility services for its customers.” - See more at:
http://scrutinyhooligans.us/2013/07/15/they-finally-got-their-tax-deal/comment-page-1/#comment-100315

Since Greenville does in fact operate a sewer system alongside it's water system, they are now excluded from the potential seizure of the water system. So, the provision that repealed a portion of the Asheville water seizure law, in an attempt to undermine the City's pending lawsuit, is still in the bill. But the new provision still excludes Greenville from future forced consolidation, so it's unclear why the amendment was put forward at all. The Asheville seizure law is unconstitutional, because it applies only to one city's water system. Making Greenville also appear to be vulnerable to forced consolidation, was the intent of the original S341 amendment. Simply changing the method whereby Greenville is excluded, makes no sense.S341 is on the Senate calendar for concurrence on July 19th. Stay tuned...

July 9th Senate Bill 341, the "Amend Interbasin Transfer Law" bill, has the same amendment that drags Greenville into the Asheville water dispute. It was voted through the House Environment Committee on June 20th, but has not yet been "reported out" to the full House. It can re-appear as a viable bill at any time. A scanned version of the bill, and the summary, can be seen here.Additionally, Senate Bill 112, the companion bill to H94, has appeared on the agenda for Rep. Tim Moffitt's House Govt. Reform Committee. It will come up 10 am Wednesday the 10th. Expect provisions ranging from fracking to the 'Greenville Amendment' to appear there as well. Listen to the hearing at 10 am Wed. the 10th here.

“I think that it is evidence how strong that challenge
is to the constitutionality of the Asheville water bill,” said Vice Mayor Esther
Manheimer. “When the legislature tries to run over another community in its
effort to bolster its case ... that’s telling in itself.”

"Rep. Tim Moffitt, a Buncombe County Republican who is
the primary proponent of the Asheville water system transfer, would not say why
or by whom the language affecting Greenville was inserted into the environmental
amendments bill.

"Rep. Chuck McGrady, a Henderson County Republican who
backs the transfer, is a co-sponsor of the environmental amendments bill. He
could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday."

...

"Manheimer and Barry Summers, an Asheville activist
opposing the transfer, both said the attempt to change the water transfer law
highlights a problem with the other side’s case.“It’s very clear the only reason that this has been
inserted into this bill is that they know that the seizure of Asheville’s water
system is unconstitutional,” Summers said."

July 2nd With the entire leadership of the town of Greenville looking down from the gallery, the Senatevoted unanimously to remove the line in House Bill 94 that would have dragged them into the Asheville water dispute. How will Reps. Moffitt, Ramsey, and McGrady make the seizure of Asheville's water appear to be constitutional now? Stay tuned.

S.L. 2013-50 is the 'Seize Asheville's Water' legislation, which is under legal challenge by the City of Asheville. The section that H94 intends to repeal is one of the key criteria that restrict the forced consolidation to only apply to Asheville. Repealing this section after it was put in place to gain the votes necessary for passage, is solely intended to weaken the City's lawsuit.

Save the Date!! June 24th Save Our Water WNC goes to Raleigh, to join the NC NAACP Moral Monday protest in front of the NC General Assembly!! Tell our legislators Hands Off Our Water!!$20 roundtrip to Raleigh is being arranged - Download the flyer with all details here.

ATTENTION.Both
our buses are now filled. There's a chance that some seats may open up
on the bus, but from this point on, we are no longer taking payments
for the round-trip to Raleigh. Come to the departure point at Innsbruck
Mall on Tunnel Rd. at 10 am. Monday to see if bus seats have become
available, or to arrange carpool/caravans.Questions? Contact us at saveourwaterwnc@gmail.com

June 6th:E-mails released by the City of Asheville show that NC Reps. Moffitt, McGrady, and Ramsey (sponsors of H488,
the bill seizing Asheville's water), have been secretly pressuring the
City to, in the words of the Vice-Mayor, "settle the lawsuit or else". Threats reportedly include legislation delaying scheduled 2013 City Council and Mayoral elections for a full year.

May 20th: City of Asheville petitions NC Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. for
a preliminary injunction to halt implementation of H488 during trial of
civil lawsuit. Read the City's suit against the State of North Carolina
and the Metropolitan Sewerage District here.

May 14th:H488, the "Regionalization of Public Utilities" becomes law without the Governor's
signature. The City of Asheville has filed suit, and has been granted a
Temporary Restraining Order to block implementation of the forced
transfer of their water system.

May 7th: Asheville City Council passes resolution authorizing legal action if water/sewerage merger bill should become law.

April 24th 1 pm. Listen to the NC Senate Finance Committee discussion of H488, "The Regionalization of Public Utilities" here.

April 9th, 8:30 am NC House Finance Committee considers H488, the "Regionalization of Public Utitlities Act".

April 5th At a breakfast for Asheville area business and political leaders, Rep. Tim Moffitt tacitly acknowledges that studies have shown there will be no savings to ratepayers from a forced transfer of Asheville's water system. (audio clip here)

"Rep. Moffitt... The MSD report clearly suggests that a merger will actually cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000 annually, and that's on top of the $2 million hit to the City of Asheville. Given that, can you still claim that a merger will actually save money?"

"Thank you Barry. The answer to that is yes.
But I would tell you that neither you nor I have the gift of predicting
the future. So studies are exactly what they are, numbers are exactly
what they are, but consolidating these three public enterprises
is the right thing to do for our region..."

The bill sponsors now have absolutely nothing to base their claims of "savings" to ratepayers on, and in fact, all of the studies now show that there will be no savings, only red ink, from a forced merger. And that's before any talk of compensation to the City for their 100s of millions of dollars worth of seized assets.

Mar. 28thIn a bill that does not mention "Asheville" even once, NC Reps. Moffitt, McGrady, and Ramsey initiate the unprecedented State theft of a municipal water system, and the City-owned watershed that feeds it. After seizing the assets belonging to the City of Asheville, the "Regionalization of Public Utilities" bill sets up a new category of State-chartered agency that could be established in any County in North Carolina: one that municipalities could then be forced to turn over their water or sewer assets to without compensation. Asheville is clearly the test case in a "watershed moment" for North Carolina, one that will determine: do the people control their local water and infrastructure, or does it belong to The State? Ladies and gentlemen, start your lawyers!

Mar. 6th: Reps. Moffitt, McGrady, and Ramsey introduce legislation repealing the 'Sullivan Act Transfers'.The Sullivan Transfers allow the City of Asheville to use up to 5% of water revenues for street and sidewalk repairs related to water system maintenance. Losing the transfers will cost Asheville taxpayers approx. $1.5 million annually. Is this merely one more whack at the City, or is this a sign that Reps. Moffitt & McGrady have abandoned their intention to seize Asheville's water system?

Feb 22nd: Greensboro News&Record Op-Ed by Barry Summers:The time is now for North Carolina towns and cities to adopt the League
of Municipalities resolution opposing such seizures, and for citizens to
contact their legislators to oppose this radical reshaping of our
shared resources.

"Moffitt, also contacted after the meeting, said that municipalities shouldn’t be concerned about owning water systems. That
is because as public utilities, systems should be thought of as
independent services for ratepayers. And any debt from building a system
would be carried by ratepayers, not city taxpayers, the South Buncombe
legislator said."

Breaking: City of Asheville announces temporary water discoloration due to scheduled inspection of water mains. Read the documents describing the process, scheduling, and purpose of this inspection here. Read the August 14, 2012 City Council minutes authorizing this work, here.

MSD breakdown shows that City of Asheville comprises 60% of MSD customers, pays 80% of the bills, yet if Rep. McGrady follows through on plans to give Henderson County 3 seats on MSD Board, Asheville representation will drop to 20%.

Rumor Control: Rep. Chuck McGradyurges people to stop spreading "very bad information" ie, that the "City of Asheville is robbing their water system, even now, after Sullivan." After acknowledging that the City has presented verifiable water revenue accounting that disproves this, he says that "we need to get some group of people to stop talking about that." Is he talking about you?

"Asheville is fighting to keep its municipal water system and avoid a soaking. But the state legislature has the last word. Other cities should tune in to this drama playing out in the water-wealthy mountain community."

Last
month on Election Day, 86% of Asheville voters said 'No' to
the idea of selling or leasing the Asheville water system. In fact,
as AC-T op-ed writer John Miall commented after the election, "I
can't remember a time when 86% of Asheville voters agreed on
anything. Talk about a mandate."

In
spite of these results, the NC legislature is sharpening knives in
anticipation of carving up the water system come January.
If allowed to happen, this would be an unprecedented state
government action that should send fear statewide into every
community.

On
Saturday, December 8, the leaders of the North Carolina GOP,
including Governor-elect Pat McCrory, will be gathering at the
Grove Park Inn for the annual Charles Taylor Republican fundraiser.

Join
us beginning at 4:30 pm as we gather in protest on the corner of
Charlotte St. and Macon Ave. to raise the visibility of the
water issue before the very legislators who will be voting
on this matter. This
is your chance to
be seen and heard – as well as provide a citizen face in opposition
to the taking of Asheville's water system by legislative fiat. We
will create a line of voters stretching up Macon Ave. with signs and
messages relating to the water issue. We expect to conclude once
the Republican fundraiser begins between 7-7:30 pm.

You
are welcome to create and bring your own signs or some pre-made ones
will be available. Please keep your messages strong, focused and on
the high ground without mentioning specific legislators names. Let’s
be the change we want to see. Some ideas include:

86%
Say NO to Water Grab
or Hands
OFF Buncombe Water

PLEASE
reach out to your personal networks and invite them to join the
rally by forwarding this message to your e-mail list, Facebook
friends, and neighbors. Families
with children are welcome and encouraged. Numbers
count!

SUGGESTIONS:
chairs are welcome; bring flashlights and signs; wear reflective or
light-colored clothing; water if needed.